Abstract:

The aim of this study is to examine the influence that the parent-child relationship has over the personality development of the adolescent. This is done through the theoretical concept of individuation. The basic assumption of this study is that it is not only the adolescent that undergoes certain developmental changes during individuation, but that the relationship context wherein he finds himself, also changes. Furthermore, the adolescent and his context influence one another mutually. Individuation does not just pose certain demands on the adolescent, but also on the parent-adolescent relationship as well as the family system. It is also evident that family functioning has an important influence over the type and quality of the parent-adolescent relationship. Therefore the dynamic interaction between family functioning, the characteristics of the parent-adolescent is examined according to developmental theories as well as the family system approach. In order to examine the relation between the personality characteristics of the adolescent and the characteristics of the parent-adolescent relationship, a single conceptual model is used in which the common theoretical traits that occur in both the developmental and systems approach are integrated. Various types of parent-adolescent interaction are therefore identified according to this integrated theoretical model, whereupon the relation between these types of parent-adolescent interactions and specified personality traits of the adolescent can be examined.